Angelfuck You Friday

Last night I realized that the Shocking Pinks song, "Emily", that I talked about yesterday starts exactly the same way as "Angelfuck", one of my favorite misfits songs. Could that possibly be why I like Shocking Pinks so much? No, it's definitely why I like Shocking Pinks so much. Compare for yourself.

"Emily" by Shocking Pinks
"Angelfuck" by the Misfits

Also,

Have you listened to Santogold? There's a lot of similarities between her sound and M.I.A.'s, which is why I've chosen to confuse things a little further by including this picture of both of them, as well as cult hero Santo Gold.

"Creator" Scottie B Remix by Santogold
"You'll Find a Way" Switch and Sinden Remix by Santogold

"You'll Find a Way" is fire, with a heavy middle eastern sound. "Creator" is cool too, but a lot simpler. Analog Giant posted another amazing track today, the Xxxchange (of Spank Rock) remix of "L.E.S. Artistes". Definitely give that one a listen too.

Rocking with the Shocking Pinks!

I've never been huge on Neil Young, which is why this post has nothing to do with his album Everybody's Rocking with the Shocking Pinks. It has everything to do with New Zealand's Nick Harte.

In my excitement over new LCD yesterday, I checked out a couple DFA acts I had never given a good listen to. Harte's band, Shocking Pinks, stood out as something I'll be listening to a lot more of. Check out the super new wavey video for the track "Emily".

Bonus points for the Black Flag Tattoo

I like "Emily" a lot, but my favorite track is definitely "Jealousy".

"Emily" by Shocking Pinks
"Jealousy" by Shocking Pinks

The track starts with this haunting atmospheric that's really well complemented by their grimy drum sound, then picks up with two beautiful interlocking guitar parts, one bleating and droning while the other melody dances over it. The song then jumps once more to a minimalist, percussion driven section, before returning to the lush atmospheric guitars. Like I said, it's definitely my favorite, but the rest of the album is absolutely worth your time.

I also found this video of Johnny Cash singing with Oscar the Grouch, one of several appearances he did with the muppets. It's fantastic.

It'd also be worth your while to check out Said the Gramophone for the Miracle Fortress cover of Digital Love, it's pretty awesome.

Lively Cool Dancefloor Soundsystem

A new song went up on LCD soundsystem's myspace page yesterday. Apparently it's been written for the movie "21" which is coming out sometime soon, about Kevin Spacey teaching a bunch of kids to cheat at cards or something along those lines. It doesn't really matter, that's not what's important here. What's important is how nutty this track is. Two minutes plus chug by before the vocals kick in, with the usual dominant, fuzzed out bass. Then it gets layered with a spaced out synth, before this grimy guitar lead kicks in, then BAM vocals. The song is well over five minutes, atypical from usual Hollywood soundtrack fare, but it doesn't drag for a second. The guitar really shines throughout, although I think the destructive solo at the end might be my favorite moment for it. Check it out yourself.

No Rest for the Wicked (Awesome)

"Big Ideas" by LCD Soundsystem

I also listened to "Freak Out/Starry Eyes" for the first time, today. Although "Big Ideas" is an amazing track, I could probably have identified it as an LCD song without knowing that it was one. I can't say the same is true about "Freak Out/Starry Eyes", and I mean that in the best way possible. There's a lot of cool hand drumming, and triangles, and different synth sounds. I stumbled across it over at 20jazzfunkgreats, so do yourself a favor and do the same. I'm definitely going to be picking up the "Confuse the Marketplace" EP when I get a job.

Mmmm, golden delicious

I caught an interview this weekend on NPR with former Soul Coughing frontman, Mike Doughty. Now I know Druglas has long been a fan, but he was always an artist I just sort of enjoyed in passing. I liked Soul Coughing, and I enjoyed his solo work if I happened to hear it, but I didn't find myself listening to him all that often. But since viruses attacked my computer, and a chunk of my music collection with it, I've been getting into some stuff that I hadn't spent much time listening to before. I have to say, give what I've heard so far, I'm really looking forward to hearing the rest of Doughty's newest solo record, Golden Delicious, which drops today. His lyrics are written with a very unique pacing and have almost a percussive quality to them, something he discusses in the NPR interview. I'm really enjoying "Fort Hood", a song written about the situation in Iraq that gets his message across without becoming preachy or condescending. "I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress to Keep on Dancing" is a fun song, but hasn't grown on me as much as "Fort Hood" has yet. Maybe it's because "Fort Hood" references Young Jeezy. "27 Jennifers" is an older song, but it's given a really cool new treatment on this album.

"Fort Hood" by Mike Doughty
"I Just Want the Girl in the Blue Dress To Keep on Dancing" by Mike Doughty
"27 Jennifers" by Mike Doughty

On a slightly more embarrassing note, once I heard the interview, I got a song stuck in my head. I knew it was a song of his that I hadn't heard in a while, but I couldn't remember what the name of the song was, or any of the words. So after searching through older albums and listening to various tracks, I realized it was actually a combination of two songs. One was "Sunken Eyed Girl" off of Haughty Melodic, a really great tune.

"Sunken Eyed Girl" by Mike Doughty

The other was a song that a character on Degrassi wrote and sang while he was in Vancouver becoming a coke addict. Sooo, I was kind of embarrassed for myself when I realized that.

New Music Pt. I

A couple times a year I’ll go on a kick to find something new (to me at least). Partially because I’m bored of what I have and because I like being able to understand what people are talking about. That happened to me a couple weeks ago and I’ve been digging up new stuff since. Couple hits, couple misses.

British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?

I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to this album enough but I’d like to think I get the appeal of this band. Unfortunately, they’re too reminiscent of an aggressive joy division which was never a sound I liked to begin with but if that’s your style I’m sure they’d be up your alley.

Menomena – Friend and Foe

From what I’ve read this came out last year but I found it after browsing a couple favorites lists. The vocals, the piano use and the layering immediately reminded me of TV on the Radio. The instrumentation makes the songs lush and have character, especially the bells and keyboard and the occasional groove from the barisax which is funky and awesome. This is one that’s growing on me and I’d definitely recommend.

Vampire Weekend – ST

Someone reincarnated Paul Simon during his tribal years and made him the lead singer and song writer for Vampire Weekend. That’s not to say this isn’t good but it feels like I’m listening to a stripped down version of “In the Jungle” all over again. As I was first listening to it my girlfriend walked in the room and without knowing what band it was automatically started dancing around which says something for the grooves on this album. It’s undoubtedly a fun album and worth a listen if post-tribal Paul Simon sounds good to you.

Lightspeed Champion – Falling Off the Lavender Bridge

I don’t know the back story of this guy but judging from the cover of this album and his myspace page this group is slightly tongue-in-cheek. Very country/Americana/folk sound he’s developed, and I read he was from the UK, which is convincing and well produced. The instrumentation on this album ranges from merely him singing and an acoustic guitar to a mini-orchestra with a string quartet and piano. I need to listen to this one more to digest it but the stand out tracks so far have been “Devil Tricks for a Bitch” (I’m obsessed with the pizzicato strings in the beginning) and “Midnight Surprise”.

I’ll continue this thread with part II after I’ve listened to a couple other releases I’m sitting on at the moment. To be continued.

Goooooooooooooooo Team!

Have you seen the video for "Doing It Right" by the Go! Team?

It looks exactly like what I picture in my head when I hear the go! team.

Conor and the Chipmunks

So I was doing some studying last night and I went to put a record on, unintentionally leaving the speed on 45 rpms instead of switching it to 33. It's not the first time I've done it, but this time I made a startling discovery.

When you play Bright Eyes at approximately 1.36x the recording speed, it becomes cheery.

I was pretty surprised myself, considering that side 1 of Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is not something I'd ever thought could be cheery, no matter what the tempo.

Yet, it was.

Side 2... eh, not so much. "I believe in Symmetry" just sort of sounded like a TV theme song and the song after that was still really mopey sounding.

Listen for yourself.

"Gold Mine Gutted" by Bright Eyes

"Gold Mine Gutted" by Conor and the Chipmunks

I've never really liked this tune. It's just such a bummer, even for a bright eyes song. But, damn, listen to it fast. It's a completely different song.

I Went Bonkers in Yonkers

Right now, I am all about "Good Love" by Sheek Louch, from his upcoming album Silverback Gorilla. I've actually been meaning to write about it for a while now. I've been a fan of the D-Block boys since the Lox, but I have to admit I always thought Sheek was overshadowed by Styles P and Jadakiss. This song has totally changed my mind. I wouldn't say he's my new favorite, but he's definitely come up in terms of my admiration. Aside from being impressed with Sheek's performance, the production on this song is untouchable. Maybe I'm just a sucker for soul beats (I am), but I think it's nice to hear Sheek rapping over something a little more interesting than the standard 808 claps.

I'm a little surprised this song hit the radio when it did. The soulful hooks, the bubbly instrumentation, even the lyrical content, this has all the makings of a summer jam. Plus, it's one of those instances where the clean version is just as enjoyable as the dirty version, so listen to it while you're driving your Grandma around Florida. Hopefully when the album drops in March, the warm weather will have kicked in and this song can enjoy a little success. This is a track that deserves it.

"Good Love" (Clean) by Sheek Louch

"Good Love" (Dirty) by Sheek Louch

b-b-b-bonus!

"Blow Your Mind"Remix feat. Swizzy, Sheek Louch, and Styles P by Jadakiss